DEC Teacher and Educator Winter Newsletter

Greetings, Teachers & Educators,

Welcome to the first Teacher & Educator Newsletter of 2020! Each issue contains a main article on a relevant education or environmental topic, like today’s article on Green Teacher magazine’s upcoming webinars, a highlight of an online resource to help you in your teachings, educator tips or resources, research on environmental education, and a listing of upcoming workshops and professional development opportunities around the state.

Please feel free to reach out to us with questions, resources, tips, or comments at EdProfDevel@dec.ny.gov, and we look forward to providing you with more environmental education information throughout the year!
 
Sincerely,
DEC’s Environmental Education Staff

Greening Your Teaching Resources

Green Teacher magazine, an online, quarterly resource for educators, explores current topics in environmental education, outdoor activities, and educator resources. The articles and activities are written by teachers and focus on educating students 6-19 years of age. They offer a sample issue on their site that you can view.

In addition to their magazine, they offer free webinars, led by experts in the field, on a variety of topics. Visit Green Teacher's website to view webinars. Upcoming topics include teaching about climate change, garden-based education, and connecting STEM to Indigenous Science. Each webinar is free to attend, but advance registration is required. All registered participants will have access to the webinar for 30 days after it is published on the site.

Explore New York’s Natural Environment with Conservationist for Kids Magazine!

DEC’s Conservationist for Kids (C4K) magazine is full of information and activities to engage students in the outdoors. Issues focus on topics from climate change and recycling to animal adaptations and pollinators and are aligned to fourth grade learning standards. If you are a fourth grade teacher, your class can receive free copies of the magazine and a teacher’s guide for your classroom. Find out more and access back issues here.

Experiences with Nature Promote Learning

Learning outdoors is more than fun! Students develop and hone critical problem-solving and inquiry skills with hands-on outdoor lessons. Read The Irrefutable Case for Taking Class Outside.

Need more proof? A review in Frontiers in Psychology takes a look at some of the large body of studies that show teaching in natural settings leads to lowered stress levels, increased engagement and interest, and better focus. These factors lead to better learning and performance in students. Read Do Experiences with Nature Promote Learning? Converging Evidence of a Cause-And-Effect Relationship.

Educator Tips

If you have an educator tip you’d like to share, please submit to EdProfDevel@dec.ny.gov.
Looking for pre-tested lesson plans on environmental topics? Visit some of the below links to see if any meet your needs!

• The National Wildlife Federation’s Lesson Plans and Webinars
• Audubon Adventures for Grades 3-6
• Take a Project WET, WILD or Learning Tree workshop. Upcoming workshops listed below!
  
  

Upcoming Educator Workshops

PLT Environmental Experiences for Early Childhood (3-6)
Tuesday, February 18, 2020 from 10 AM to 1 PM
DEC Region 1 Office in Stony Brook, NY
Register with Environmental Education Staff at education1@dec.ny.gov.

Project Learning Tree (PreK-8)
Monday, February 24, 2020 from 9 AM to 4 PM
Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center in Hyde Park, NY
Register here: Teaching the Hudson Valley Project Learning Tree Workshop.

Growing Up WILD and Getting Little Feet WET (Early Childhood Curriculum)
Monday, March 9, 2020 from 9 AM to 3 PM
Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center in Hyde Park, NY
Register here: Teaching the Hudson Valley Early Childhood Workshop.

Flying WILD
Wednesday, April 8, 2020 from 4 PM to 7 PM
DEC Region 1 Office in Stony Brook, NY
Register with Ron Gelardi at education1@dec.ny.gov.

Project WILD (K-12)
Thursday, April 16, 2020 from 10 AM to 3 PM
Five Rivers Environmental Education Center in Delmar, NY
Register with Drew Hopkins at 5rivers@dec.ny.gov.

Project WILD and Project WET (K-12) combined
Saturday, April 18, 2020 from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM
Nicandri Nature Center at Robert Moses State Park in Massena, NY
Register with Sarah Conley at EdProfDevel@dec.ny.go.

Contact us at EdProfDevel@dec.ny.gov
Visit DEC's Workshops for Educators web page
Connect Kids to Parks Field Trip Grants web page
DEC's Teacher Info web page
Kids GO (Get Outside) web page